Personal profile

Biography

Laura is the Assistant Head of Department (Education) in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, SETU (South East Technological University) and is responsible for the management and supervision of the School programmes, research activities and external engagement in conjunction with the Head of School and Head of Department.  She is responsible, together with the Principal Investigators, for the School's National and EU funded research projects and works closely with the advisory groups on the implementation plans, monitoring and operational management of funded research projects.  She has acted as academic project manager on several large scale research and education projects, including those funded by the Higher Education Authority, the National Forum for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.  

Laura has worked in Higher Education since 2004 as assistant lecturer, eLearning Coordinator and was previously Head of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) at WIT before moving into the role of AHOD (Education).  As Head of TEL, Laura was actively involved in providing leadership and instrumental in creating, initiating, implementing and evaluating a range of strategic projects including the successful introduction of the Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and the development of the WIT Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL).  She is also co-founder of the WIT TEL Community of Practice (CoP).  

Laura is a graduate of WIT holding a Bachelor of Science in Commercial Software Development and a Masters in Science.  Her MSc(by research) focused on creating reusable computer based assessments and she is currently studying for a Doctorate in Education at the Institute of Education, University College London.  Her research is on lectures’ perceptions on the inclusion of Digital Learning Design in professional undergraduate curricula.   Laura has published in the area of TEL and was deputy president of Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) for seven years which involved co-chairing an annual national conference and establishing the Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning. 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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